[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E604-E605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INVESTING IN A NEW VISION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND SURFACE
TRANSPORTATION IN AMERICA ACT
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speech of
HON. GRACE F. NAPOLITANO
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support for H.R. 2,
the Moving Forward Act.
I want to thank Chairman DeFazio, Chairwoman Norton and Chairman
Lipinski for their tremendous work on the Surface Transportation
portions of this bill. I would also like to thank the leadership for
including water provisions from my Water Resources and Environment
Subcommittee, and thank Chairman Grijalva for including my water
recycling bill from the Natural Resources Committee in this package.
Mr. Speaker, the surface transportation section of this bill will
make a significant impact in improving American lives by reducing
commute times, increasing safety on our highways, bridges, buses and
rails, and improving our environment.
As the senior Californian on the Committee, I am proud that this bill
will provide $37.5 billion in transportation funding for California,
including $26.5 billion for Highway projects and $11 billion for
Transit.
H.R. 2 includes important provisions I have worked on to improve
transportation in the San Gabriel Valley, California, and our nation.
These provisions are:
A new Transit Worker Protection Program providing $60 million per
year for transit agencies to work with transit unions to identify and
implement transit worker safety measures such as bus driver barriers
and blind spot removals. This will improve security and safety for all
passengers, the bus drivers, and pedestrians. This program is based on
my bill H.R. 1139, the Transit Worker Protection Act.
The bill includes a provision to allow local transportation agencies
and cities to give preference to our local residents when hiring
workers for transportation projects. With Southern California raising
incredible funds for local transportation projects, taxpayers in our
region should be given preference to work on the local projects they
are paying for. This will allow that.
$2.5 billion for a new highway rail underpass construction program
(known as a grade separation grant program). This was created after we
had the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments testify earlier this
year regarding the importance of highway rail safety and the very
successful Alameda Corridor East underpass construction program in my
region. This will create important safety and commuter benefits by
separating the rail line from the roadway.
$1.725 billion for electric bus purchases. This is important to
Foothill Transit and LA METRO in my district who are rapidly purchasing
electric buses for their fleet. It also helps these transit agencies
with funding the electric charging infrastructure and the maintenance
of these new-age buses. This will also support the workers in the
electric bus industry including my constituents who work at Proterra
bus company in Industry, CA. We must continue to improve the air
quality of our region with clean bus implementation.
$7 billion for bicycle, pedestrian, and safe routes to school
projects. Many of the residents and cities in the San Gabriel Valley
use this funding to improve bike trails and walkways that allow
students and workers to safely get to school, work, and the Metro
station or bus stop.
The bill updates competitive grant funding requirements for
transportation grants so that projects in the San Gabriel Valley have a
better chance of being selected based on the merit of their
applications. Southern California transportation projects such as the
57/60 confluence project and the Alameda Corridor East Highway Rail
grade crossing separation projects are the highest ranked projects in
the country but consistently get overlooked because of politics. This
bill makes the grant requirements more associated with project quality
and less by politics.
The bill allows states to use federal transportation funds to build
suicide barriers on bridges. Studies show that the vast majority of
suicides on bridges are because of a sudden impulse, and if a barrier
were erected the person would not continue with a suicide attempt. This
is based on my bill with Rep. Beyer of Virginia called the Barriers to
Suicide Act (H.R. 4309).
The bill includes a provision that would require the Department of
Transportation when working with local agencies on transit oriented
development projects to address homeless housing assistance. The
expansion of the Gold Line in my district has created important housing
opportunities for residents that could be used to also address the
homeless crisis we are facing in the San Gabriel Valley.
The bill creates a Truck Driver Leasing Task Force that is based on a
bill I introduced last Congress, H.R. 4144, the Port Truck Driver Bill
of Rights. This will focus federal regulators and policy experts on
creating solutions to controversial leasing arrangements in the
trucking industry that are especially found at the Ports of Los Angeles
and Long Beach. These illegal tactics by some trucking companies
underpay truck drivers by forcing them into leasing arrangements that
require them to work long hours without abiding by minimum wage laws,
let alone reasonable pay and benefits. This task force will address
these unfair practices against workers.
The bill allows electric vehicle charging stations at park-and-ride
lots and rest areas located along the highway. Federal law currently
prohibits electric vehicle charging stations at these locations and my
provision will fix that. This is a huge problem at 20 park-and-ride
lots in Los Angeles County including the El Monte Bus Station in my
district, which is the largest bus transit station on the West coast.
Electric vehicles owners should be allowed to drive to the metro
station and charge their car while taking transit.
The bill stops the Trump Administration from threatening to withhold
$250 million annually
[[Page E605]]
in FAA grants to California airports and divert $70 million in CA State
and Local general sales taxes away from their intended purpose. This
provision was included in my amendment on the House floor that is the
same as my bill H.R. 2939, the State and Local General Sales Tax
Protection Act. This restores 29 years of FAA policy that the
restriction on aviation fuel sales taxes for aviation purposes is based
on excise taxes and not general sales taxes. This will allow the State
of California, California Counties and California cities to continue to
spend their general sales tax revenues on their voter approved purpose.
An additional amendment of mine was adopted on the floor to protect
the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA)
loan program from being raided by other programs. TIFIA is incredibly
important to Southern California as we are able to use this low cost
financing with our Measure R, Measure M, and SB1 money to speed up
transportation projects so they are completed now instead of 30 years
from now. This means Southern California residents, businesses, and
commuters get the benefits of these highway, transit and rail
improvements today instead of waiting for future funding cycles. This
also saves money in the long run by shortening the time value of the
costs of construction.
H.R. 2 also includes important provisions from the Water Resources
and Environment Subcommittee which I chair that would provide federal
assistance to clean water projects, water supply projects, and
environmental improvements and recreation. These include:
Reauthorizes the Clean Water State Revolving Fund at $40 billion over
five years to construct water treatment systems that address today's
water challenges to clean up our rivers, streams, lakes and ocean for
improved drinking water, recreation, and the environment.
Authorizes $5.6 billion for clean water act grant programs (including
$1 billion for treatment of PFAS chemicals and other emerging
contaminants) that can provide direct assistance to local water
agencies.
Authorizes $3.4 billion to reauthorize various regional water
programs over the next five years that the subcommittee recently
passed, which include: the National Estuary Program, the San Francisco
Bay Program, the Puget Sound Program, the Great Lakes Program, the
Chesapeake Bay Program, and the Lake Pontchartrain Program.
Appropriates $10 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers for
construction projects for flood control, navigation, and environmental
restoration. This funding could be used to perform the Whittier Narrows
Dam renovation project that will protect Southern California from major
flooding events.
Appropriates $5 billion for operation and maintenance of Army Corps
projects which can be used on the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Rio
Hondo rivers to improve the river landscape and maintain proper flood
control.
The Natural Resources Committee has included in H.R. 2 my bill, H.R.
1162, the Water Recycling Investment and Improvement Act. This will
increase the authorization for the Bureau of Reclamation's Title XVI
program, which is the most successful and primary water recycling
program of the federal government, from $50 million to $500 million.
Title XVI provides cost-shared funding for water recycling projects
that reclaim and reuse municipal, industrial, domestic or agricultural
wastewater, and, naturally impaired ground or surface waters across the
17 Western states. This grant program has proven to be the most cost-
effective in improving water supply by providing long-term savings,
while boosting job growth and lowering our reliance on imported potable
water.
By increasing Title XVI's authorization from $50 million to $500
million, it gives local water agencies the necessary funding to
increase capacities for existing recycling plants or create new cost-
effective projects to boost water supplies.
Since 1992, Congress has authorized 53 Title XVI recycling projects,
producing more than 400,000 acre-feet of drought-resistant water
supply. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funding, there is a backlog
of almost $1 billion dollars for congressionally authorized Title XVI
projects--demonstrating a clear need to continue and expand funding.
Not only do these projects create jobs and boost our local economies,
farms, and businesses, but Title XVI projects can be brought on-line
with ``wet'' water, not paper water, in as little as two years. These
projects provide long-term savings, which is why water districts and
sanitation agencies are overwhelmingly supportive of this program.
With almost 50 percent of the country in drought and demands for
clean water increasing especially during this pandemic, Congress must
look towards programs that further drought proof our drinking water,
irrigation, and recreation water supplies. As we work to explore new
ways to expand our water portfolio and safeguard our local communities
from future shortages and drought, it is imperative that Congress
adequately fund, promote and expand water recycling infrastructure
projects.
Mr. Speaker, before I close, I would like to thank the cities,
transportation agencies and water agencies in my district and state
that were integral at informing the Congress of their concerns and
ideas for infrastructure policy.
I would particularly like to thank Mark Christoffels for testifying
before the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee regarding
railroad safety issues, and his colleague Paul Hubler who is also Chair
of the Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors.
I would like to thank my local transit leaders for giving expert
advice on transit issues and the improvements to transit we were able
to make in this bill. This includes Phil Washington, Raffi Hamparian
and Michael Davies from Los Angeles Metro, and Doran Barnes and David
Reyno from Foothill Transit.
And I would like to thank the San Gabriel Valley Council of
Governments and our local city leaders who advocated for increased
urban mobility with first and last mile solutions such as pedestrian
walkways, bike paths, and improved bus and rail service. They also
encouraged us to do more on transit-oriented development and address
homelessness which we were able to accomplish in this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I hope members appreciate the amazing work done by our
Committee Chairs and Committee staff on this important infrastructure
bill. They have spent countless hours, long weekends and many late
nights putting this bill together through the odd working conditions of
a pandemic. I would particularly like to thank my incredible water
subcommittee staff Alexa Williams, Camille Touton, Navis Bermudez, and
Ryan Seiger. I would also like to thank the staff who worked with me on
provisions important to California including Helena Zyblikewycz,
Garrett Gee, Jackie Schmitz, Auke Mahar-Piersma, Andrea Wohleber, and
Matthew Muirragui.
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